You're Beautiful
by light carries on
Summary: "Why, Miss Elphaba. Look at you. You're beautiful." As Galinda takes her newfound friend off-guard with her statement, Elphaba leaves in a hurry. So, Galinda follows her to comfort her friend. Short Oneshot set after "Popular." Gelphie friendship.


**Hello there :) **

**This is my first FanFiction published on here (but hopefully it won't be the last). **

**It was inspired by my visit to London where I went to see Wicked for the first time and it was absolutely incredible! Thank you for taking the time to read this; if you notice any grammar or spelling mistakes please do tell me. English isn't my first language, but I did have over 10 years of English lessons, so I decided to face the challenge! Have fun!**

**Disclaimer: (Unfortunately) I do not own Wicked, I'm just trying to be creative!**

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„Why, Miss Elphaba. Look at you", Galinda chirped sweetly, smiling down at her roommate, who was now her friend. "You're beautiful."

It wasn't the first time she had said those words, by any means. Not to Elphaba of course, who she had despised up until yesterday, but still they flew all too easily from her mouth. She had told her friends when they went shopping and tried something new, she even told herself in front of the mirror often enough. So, though the words were nothing new, it baffled her just how serious she meant them. Elphaba truly looked beautiful. A different beautiful, of course, much different to her own porcelain skin and blonde hair, but the pink flower in her hair really gave the green girl a special glow. Her emerald skin didn't seem muddy and kind of dirty anymore, instead she seemed to sparkle like an emerald. For a brief moment, she even allowed herself to be a little jealous.

Her newfound friend looked upon her reflection and her lips slightly curled upwards. She had always avoided mirrors for most of her life and when she did find herself in front of one, she only ever concentrated on her clothing or her hair. Looking at her own face now, she was surprised. Not that she liked what she saw, but she got an idea, where Galinda's statement may have come from. Her eyes, her high cheekbones and rather even face could be quite pleasing to look at, especially with her hair undone like that. It was the green layer covering them, which made her just the opposite of her friend's statement. Suddenly she couldn't bear to look at herself anymore.

"I have to go", she said without bothering to explain herself. How would she, anyway? The perfect Galinda Upland would never understand just how much loathing a reflection in the mirror could cause. Not paying a second glance to her roommate, she hurried out of their room, not even taking the time to shut the door.

After pointlessly running out of the dormitory and around campus, she found herself in the library, the only place she felt somewhat comfortable in. The librarian, a nice woman in her sixties, smiled upon her arrival, before her eyes shifted to something on Elphaba's head, eyebrows raised in slight confusion. The young sorceress quickly yanked the flower out of her hair, embarrassed how she didn't think to take it out before running around campus. She must have made even more of a fool of herself than she thought. She was close to throwing into the nearest trash can, until she remembered that it was Glinda's and she couldn't just throw her property away. Not now, with their bond still so fresh and tender. If she hadn't ruined altogether already, considering how quickly she had stormed out of their shared dorm.

She didn't pay much attention to the book she grabbed from a shelf near her, too focused on getting to her favorite place at the window behind a bunch of old sorcery books no one ever cared to read. Finally out of the librarians sight, she set the book back down without even reading the title and looked at the pink flower instead.

Elphaba had never taken much notice as to what her roommate was wearing. Her pink and baby blue dresses just blurred together, as well as her jewelry and other things she chose to decorate herself with. If she had though, she would have just considered the pink flower as a little silly but pretty nonetheless – therefore perfect for Galinda. On Elphaba on the other hand … on Elphaba it looked just downright ridiculous.

_Pink goes good with green_ – what a cruel joke. Nothing ever went good with green and the stylish Galinda ought to know that. Yet, Elphaba just couldn't believe that it was meant to be a joke, even less one to hurt her. She sounded genuine when saying so. Which still didn't have to mean that she was right.

Maybe her sense of style wasn't as good after all.

"Elphie? Where are you?"

Elphaba had no idea how long she had just sat there, staring at this dumb pink flower which somehow had her on the verge of tears, when she heard her name.

"Come on, I know you're here, the librarian told me. Where are you, why are you hiding?"

Just as Elphaba chose to respond after all – it wasn't like she could avoid her roommate forever – she saw a glimpse of a pink dress and soon after that Galinda had spotted her.

"Why am I not surprised that you're sitting here?" With her hands on her hips she seemed like a small, angry munchkin, but Elphaba rather kept that thought to herself. "Right next to the most boring, dusty books."

Curiously, she picked up the book next to Elphaba's feet, before wrinkling her nose. "A Gardener's Guide to Snowdrops", she read out loud and suppressed a little giggle. Even the sorceress had to smile at the ridiculousness of the title she had picked by accident.

"Wow, I didn't know you had a green thumb", she joked lamely and Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"That's not mine. Someone must have left it here." She didn't dare tell Galinda how she was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't even paid attention to the book she picked.

"Yeah, because this place looks like it's usually crowded with people … people interested in gardening", she corrected herself, but then decided to drop the subject. She didn't come here to mock her friend. Quite the opposite actually, and she hadn't done a very good job so far.

She hopped onto the rather wide windowsill next to Elphaba and only then noticed the pink flower between her fingers.

"What is it? Did I say something wrong? You know, back in our room."

The green girl just slightly shook her head. "No, not really. You were really nice, just-"

Her voice broke and she desperately fought against the tears behind her lashes. "It's just … what you said, about me being-"

"Beautiful?", Galinda interrupted, already beginning to realize where this was coming from. As natural as the words had been coming from her mouth, Elphie wasn't used to hearing them. "I'm sorry if I took you off-guard, but I did mean it, you know?"

The green girl snorted, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "And here I was thinking you had taste."

"Why, thank you, Elphie, I do", the blonde responded, desperately wanting to banish the self-loathing from her friend's voice. "I do have a spectacular taste, which is why you ought to believe me. You're beautiful."

"It's funny how sure you seem to be, when just two days ago, you wouldn't shut up about how _disgusting_ you found _the artichoke's skin_." Hearing her quote on of her insults, showed Galinda even more just how much of an ass she had been. Especially because she had never meant it. Of course, Elphaba's green skin was different from everyone else's. She as a person was irritating and stubborn and never wanted to be Galinda's friend, which always bothered her. But that dignity she carried herself with, that high raised chin and sharp mind, it had made her jealous. She herself had fought years to gain enough self-confidence and it had taken a lot of compliments and pushes from her parents, to become the popular girl she was now. All the while, it just seemed to come naturally for the green-skinned sorceress.

"I'm sorry. Truly." Galinda didn't know how to explain herself and therefore chose not to, at least for the moment. "I know that doesn't make up for these horrible weeks, but please believe me, when I tell you now: you are beautiful. When I looked at you back in our room, just for a moment, you were glowing. You looked like an emerald and I was jealous."

Galinda? Jealous of her? This day seemed to get more ridiculous with the hour.

As Elphaba frowned in disbelief, Galinda hurriedly spoke again.

"You see, you don't have to believe me for now, okay? Just try to take it as a compliment and let me try to show you."

"Show me what?"

"Look, I know that you're beautiful. My job now is to let you feel beautiful. You're just gonna have to trust me."

She offered Elphaba her hand and tentatively the green girl took it, knowing she had just found her first real friend and hoping their friendship would blossom as beautifully as a certain pink flower.


End file.
